Yohanan ben zakkai biography of michael

Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai (d. c. 85 ce) was one of the most influential figures in ancient Jewish history. Emerging from the ruins of the destroyed Temple, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai led the Jewish people through the dangerous first years after the devastation of the last remnants of their state by the Romans. A disciple of Hillel, he was of the “national-realist” school that favored tactical surrender to the overwhelming power of the Roman Empire. In his most famous act, he arranged to fake his own death in order to escape his enemies among the Zealots to negotiate a peace treaty with Vespasian, who would later become Emperor. “Give me Yavneh and its scholars,” asked Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, setting in place the foundation for the existence of Judaism after the Temple could no longer serve as the center of Jewish religious life. Part of the Jewish Biography as History series available at http://www.jewishhistorylectures.com.

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Jewish Biography as History

ancient Israel, Jewish History, jewish people, Jews, Mishnah, Pharisees, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, Talmud, Temple, Torah, Yavneh, Zealots

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Yochanan's Gamble: Judaism's Pragmatic Approach to Life | Jewish Book Council

The Tal­mud relates that dur­ing the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans, Rab­ban Yochanan ben Zakkai escaped from the city to meet the con­queror Ves­pasian, the soon-to-be emper­or of Rome. Rec­og­niz­ing that Jerusalem was doomed for destruc­tion, Yochanan plead­ed for the oppor­tu­ni­ty to spare the town of Yavneh and its lead­er­ship. This prag­mat­ic request allowed the rab­bis to rebuild Judaism after the destruc­tion of the Tem­ple (B.T. Git­tin 56).

It is from this nar­ra­tive that Rab­bi Marc Katz of Tem­ple Ner Tamid in Bloom­field, New Jer­sey builds the argu­ment of his newest book, Yochanan’s Gam­ble. Katz asserts that the rab­bis were the ulti­mate prag­ma­tists. His review of rab­binic prag­ma­tism is unique, because while most books on the sub­ject rely on the sto­ries of the Tal­mud as proof texts, Katz mines both rab­binic nar­ra­tives and law. His con­clu­sion sug­gests that the ​“rab­bis priv­i­leged com­pro­mise and sub­tle­ty over intran­si­gence and stri­den­cy.” Yochanan’s Gam­ble​“recasts the prag­mat­ic strain of rab­binic thought as an authen­tic Jew­ish strat­e­gy we too can employ to add nuance to our moral deci­sion mak­ing.” Katz’s argu­ment evolves in nine chap